1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to the supply and acquisition of movies, music, and other media content and, in particular, to a method and system for selectively supplying supplemental media content to users purchasing or otherwise legally acquiring primary media content without requiring the users to acquire additional storage media from media content providers containing the supplemental media content.
2. Current Relevant Art
Portable media storage devices for storing digital content are widely used to enjoy audio and/or video program materials. Examples of such devices include compact disc (CDs) and digital versatile or video discs (DVDs). CDs and DVDs are fabricated in several forms. For example, CDs may be single-sided, dual-sided, high density (HDCD), super audio (SACD), super video (SVCD), readable, writable, and/or recordable, or capable of storing and playing audio files that are compatible with different operating systems (e.g., a hybrid CD). CDs are also able to store and play various file types, such as .mp3 files, .wav files, .au files, .ram files, and .wma files,just to name a few. Similarly, DVDs may be single-sided, dual-sided, high density, high definition, readable, writable, and/or recordable, single layer, or multi-layer. DVDs are also able to store and play various file types, such as PAL, NTSC and/or MPEG files. Additional types of portable digital storage devices, such as a memory sticks, secure digital cards (SDCs), CompactFlash cards, and microdrives, presently exist in connection with digital photography. However, industry professionals envision that such devices may, over time, be adapted for use in connection with audio and/or video materials. Further, various new types of portable storage devices are being created on a regular basis.
Portable storage devices are limited as to the amount of audio and/or video content that can be stored. For example, a conventional audio CD can typically hold between 600 and 700 Megabytes (Mb) of data. A standard DVD can hold between 4.7 and 9.4 Gigabytes (Gb) of data depending on the layering employed. However, a typical high definition DVD can generally hold more than 20 Gb of data. Thus, the storage capabilities of portable storage devices are rapidly expanding, rendering such devices capable of storing more content than the primary content of the device. For example, DVDs often include not only the movie advertised on the DVD's cover, but also so-called “bonus material”, such as games, bloopers, documentaries on the making of the films, and other material. With the continual growth in the storage capabilities of the portable storage devices, such devices will inevitably, if they are not already, be capable of storing multiple movies, albums and other content. Thus, entertainment publishers may soon be able to provide multiple media works (e.g., movies or albums) to consumers on a single CD or DVD. While consumers may welcome the ability to reduce the sizes of their CD and DVD collections without sacrificing content, they may not be so receptive to being required to purchase multiple movies or albums each time they are inclined to make a purchase. Thus, requiring consumers to purchase sets of digital media content at the point of sale of the CD or DVD is not an optimal solution.
Therefore, a need exists for a method and system for selectively supplying media content to users that enable consumers purchasing or otherwise legally acquiring primary media content to expediently acquire supplemental media content without having to increase the sizes of their DVD and CD collections to do so. Such a system and method that provides all content in a secure manner to counter or at least mitigate the likelihood of illegal piracy of the content, which piracy costs the entertainment industry billions of dollars each year, would be a further improvement over the prior art.